Wednesday, September 16, 2015

The 2015, 41st Nederburg Auction, Paarl

Does
putting your wine in a prestigious wine auction pay? Does it alter the profile
of your wines and your farm? Does it help to raise the prices of the wines? These
questions were much discussed at the auction this year. Opinions obviously
differ. We were invited to the auction this year. John went as Media and Lynne
went as a buyer. You have to be there at 08h30 to register, which was a little
hard after our last week, but we got there and could enjoy a good coffee and a
Danish pastry before the auction began at 9. Esteemed wine expert and writer Robert
Joseph gave the opening address "Producer, know thy Market" about
modern wine marketing and the current trends and it was really informative,
entertaining, controversial and uplifting. We hope the industry members present
took away some new approaches. His presentation is available to view on the
Nederburg site

The
majority of the lots of wine in the Auction on Saturday were from good private
producers, with a few Nederburg and other Distell wines scattered through the
list. Most of the wines on offer were auctioned on Friday. Auctioneer Anthony
Barne MW from Bonham’s in the UK took us at a measured pace through the lots
and good prices were received. The Auction raised R6163000, slightly down on
the previous year's figure but, apparently, there was less wine entered this
year. Most producers we chatted to are very happy with their results

Lynne
managed to get a case of the Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc 2009 (we will be
drinking this at John's 70th later this year) at the beginning of the auction,
but then the big buyers got involved and not much was available. The charity
auction was good, but a little disappointing as the big donors and buyers were
not there being generous. The 1960s bottle of Château Petrus Pomerol went for
R26000, not the R100000 hoped for, which is what it is said to be worth. R 257500
was raised for charity over the 15 donated lots. Then it was time for lunch

Lynne registering and collecting her
paddle

Early morning arrival on quite a
chilly, cloudy day

Breakfast was a Danish pastry and an Americano
coffee

Then some a welcoming taste of some JC
le Roux bubbles

Everyone was heading to the tasting of
the wines which were being sold that day

KWV Viticulturalist Marco Ventrella and a colleague on the
KWV stand with their incredible 1948 Limited Release port. It was so viscousthat you had to change your tasting glass afterwards as the flavour and aroma
continued

Alastair Rimmer, cellarmaster at Kleine
Zalze, in very appropriate attire

Beautiful flowers

The room was filled with buyers, tasting

James Downes of Shannon Vineyards with abottle of hisShannon Sanctuary Peak Sauvignon Blanc. Estimated at R720 a case, it made on average R2100 a case

Boets Nel of De Krans with the 2001
Cape Vintage Port and his neighbour and cousin Carel Nel of Boplaas. The four
cases of this port each made R2,800

Joined by Carel’s wife, Jeanne

Johan de Wet of De Wetshof pours a
taste of their 2009 Bateleur Chardonnay. The four cases each went for R3500

Jeremy and Mandy Walker of Grangehurst
with their magnums of Grangehurst 2005, one of our favourite blends. Each lot
consisted of 3 x 1.5L magnums and they sold for between R5000 and R4500 a lot.

Pieter 'Bubbles' Ferreira with his
Graham Beck 2009 Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc andKobus Potgieter, Managing Director, Hartenberg Wine Estate. The lots of 6 went for between
R2800 and R2500

Pieter with his beloved wife Anne

Bruwer Raats with his excellent 2006
Family Old Vine Chenin Blanc, which went for R3000 to R3200 a lot

Time to take our seats for the opening
address, armed with yet more bubbly

Friendly serving staff

Carina Gous of Nederburg opens proceedings

Standing room only in the filled hall

Robert Joseph begins his opening
address

Cape Wine Master Duimpie Bayly listens intently

The Walkers are amused or are they?

Time for a quick break. Johan Krige of Kanonkop with WOSACEO Siobhan Thompson and her husband, Gary

Time for the auction to begin. Auctioneer
Anthony Barne steps to the podium

Restaurateur and sommelier Neil Grant,
owner of Burrata, Bocca and The Open Door

Having a look and a try on at the
fashion show are Juliet Cullinan, Pieter Ferreira and Yegas Naidoo of Miles for Style. John was setting up the photo when an irritating person with a cellphone hijacked his picture and he ended up with a side view

We need a picture of THAT! Guy Webber, winemaker at Stellenzicht, sets up a photo

Sommelier Ndabezinhle Dube of The
Vineyard Hotel, helping out on the day, as were many of our top sommeliers

The auction is over and the final
total made over the two days is ...

Then it was time for the lively
charity auction lead by sommelier and wine retailer Roland Peens. Here, Robert
Joseph helps out to raise money for charity with the lot of his new book and
two good wines: a Pichon-Longueville Pauillac 2009 and a Chateau Suduiraut
Sauternes 2007. The lot made R10000.

Distell Head Cellarmaster Razvan
Macici. He was Head winemaker for Nederburg until his recent promotion

The marquee, where lunch was served

Chef Chris Erasmus of Foliage
restaurant in Franschhoek was cooking most of the lunch menu

The Tom Yum soup with seafood and a
smoked line fish dim sum dumpling, a waterblom, sorrel leaves and preserved
lemon. It is always difficult to keep the food hot when serving hundreds of
people for lunch. the quid was sadly still raw on one plate

It went perfectly with the Nederburg Riesling

The main course of smoky BBQ salt beef
brisket on a bed of wild mushrooms, chickpeas, lentils & slightly
undercooked potatoes, topped with a sorrel and chickweed 'salad'. We sat next to
Emil Den Dulk of De Toren and he produced a bottle of the 2004 De Toren “Z”.
which went phenomenally well with the brisket

Dessert was a " flower pot"
of unsweetened dark chocolate in a crumbly pastry pot topped with edible
flowers, a swipe of carrot cultured cheese cream. Very Rose geranium flavoured
chocolate 'rocks" and an unusual buchu ice cream. Quite a tour de force of
different flavours and textures. The medium dry Monis Sherry calmed the palate

The decor in the marquee was very
innovative and they made use of old cartons and lots of other recycled
materials

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